Alphabet is apparently in talks to make an offer to acquire HubSpot.
👉 Background: Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is no stranger to legal disputes around its market power. Meanwhile, HubSpot is a marketing software and CRM company that was founded in the US in 2006.
👉 What happened: Alphabet is apparently in talks to make an offer to acquire HubSpot. HubSpot has a market value of $35 billion USD, which means if this deal goes ahead, it will be Alphabet's largest acquisition to date.
👉 What else: However, if Alphabet does intend to get this deal over the line, it will have to argue its case that this deal is not anti-competitive.
💡One way industry giants expand, even if competition regulators are watching them, is by buying companies in non-core markets.
💡Google dominates search and advertising, not CRM or marketing software. If this deal goes ahead, Alphabet would likely argue that it's improving competition in the CRM market— currently dominated by Salesforce and Microsoft.
💡Alphabet knows it will need a strong case to get the competition regulators' tick of approval on this potential deal. But the question remains, how well does that argument holds up for the competition regulators in the US?
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